Prove Them Wrong
by Dragon of Decimation
Summary: The Ekans Grant bought may be giving him second thoughts about his purchase. Especially after he's made fun of by other trainers because of the size and physical state of his Ekans. Follow Grant and his best friend Francis through their financial struggles as they prove to the world that a Pokemon master can be made from anyone. WARNING: RATED T for graphic, violent scenes. 1st Gen
1. Prologue: The Evil of Truth and Love

"Wake up Tal." a feminine voice ushered him. "We don't have much time before sunrise. We'll miss them."

Tal grunted as he turned on the forest floor, with only a thin blanket seperating him from the dirt. Luckily the night wasn't cold, so he didn't need another one.

"It'll be a big haul this year judging on the migration patterns of the Beedrills." the feminine voice said as it's owner turned towards the dark, enveloping forest. "Remind me why I volunteered for these early morning and late night ops again." Tal said as he sat up, rubbing the sleepyness out of his eyes and yawning. "Because of the raw cash. Each of those wings will shovel in heaps of cash from the boss."

Tal stood up, stretched his back and looked up to see Yosha's beautiful eyes staring straight at his. _Now I remember why I volunteered for this op._ Her silky brown hair was tied back behind her head and was allowed to fall in one big, straight ponytail down to her waist. She carried herself in a way that Tal had never seen any other woman carry herself.

She snapped him out of it. "I'll give you a minute to wake up before we head off to the nest. I left some orange juice for you. It's in your backpack." "Thanks." "No problem."

As Tal finished waking up, he checked his rifle to ensure it was fully locked and loaded. He did the same for his handgun. "Do you still have the shock trap?" "Of course." She muttered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Tal reached down to pick up his belt of pokeballs and secured it around his waist. A rifle could only do so much. Pokemon could protect you far better than any weapon. He checked to make sure all sure all six pokeballs were still in their place. All checked out. "Alright, I'm ready." Tal told Yosha. She looked back at the campsite once more before taking a step. "Don't forget your hat." "Oh! Right."

Tal rushed over to his hat which matched his uniform. It was dark gray, embrazioned with a large red "R" on the front. He secured it on his head.

"Look at how many there are!" Yosha marveled as they peered through the soupy darkness at the massive tree. Hundreds of Butterfree purched atop the branches and leaves of the gnarled oak. Small glints of all the Butterfree's wings showed in the darkness, their crystaline apperance proving to sell very well on the black market. The sight was so beautiful.

"Get the trap out of my pack." Yoshia ordered him. Tal went around behind her and unzipped the backpack.

A moment of strange emotion struck Tal. _Are we really going to do this? Hurt all of these Butterfree?_ Tal looked up at the tree and saw the beautiful natural glimmer of the Butterfree. Mother nature had provided them with this dazzaling, happy, pure display of life...and they were about to turn something untouched, ugly. "What are you waiting for Tal?" "Oh...yeah, sorry."

Tal reached in the bag and pulled out a small but heavy metal box and handed it to Yoshia. "Ok we'll plant in here, then make our way around the tree to the other side." "Alright."

Yoshia set the box on the ground and hit a button on it. She then pulled a trigger out of the size zipper of the pack. "Let's go."

They made their way stealthily around the tree to the other side and hid behind a bush. Yosha pulled out two Pokeballs. "Primeape, Zubat, I choose you." Light flung out of the pokeballs and Yosha's Primeape and Zubat appeared. "Stay quiet!" she ushered them. "On my mark, I want you two to make as much noise as possible, aimed at that tree." She pointed towards the Butterfrees. Primeape grunted, Zubat just hovered in place. She took that as an agreement.

She turned towards Tal "When I give my mark, fire a shot into the tree. Got it?" Tal hid his emotion and nodded. _He needed the money...and Yoshia. He couldn't let her down._

Yoshia readied the trap trigger in her right hand. "Ok. Ready?" Tal and Primeape nodded. Zubat continued to hover. "On three." Tal readied the rifle, aimed at the tree. He couldn't tell if he was aimed at a Butterfree or not. He tried to not aim for one but what was the difference? They were about to hurt so many of them anyway.

"One"

Tal took a deep breath in, steadying himself.

"Two."

 _Fogive us Butterfrees_

"Three."

Primeape screamed at the top of it's lungs while Zubat used screech. Tal squeezed the trigger and blasted a bulled straight into the leaves, the gunshot echoed around the small hollow. The night sprang to life. Countless Butterfree scattered into the sky, away from the offensive sounds. Tal was captivated and awestruck as most of his vision was filled with wings, glinting off of the just rising sun. It was like thousands of cut crystals held up in sunlight.

He lowered his rifle as happiness filled him. It was so beautiful. His mind flew back to his childhood when his mother used to tuck him in at night. When he couldn't fall asleep, his mother would say to imagine a million Butterfree flying off into the sunset, to let their glints put him to sleep. Tal immediately got filled with peace as he snapped out of reality.

Tal jumped as an arc of lightening shot into the sky, hitting countless Butterfree, rendering them immobile, making them fall to the ground, smacking their delicate bodies against the earth.

As the electricity dissapated, the remaining Butterfree flew off high into the sky. Smoke curled up from the heaps of immobilized Butterfree lying on the ground.

"Yesss!" Yoshia's voice made Tal jump. "We're rich!" She then pulled a large bag out of her backpack before unsheathing her large knife from her belt. She hopped over the bush and ran towards the disabled Pokemon.

Tal's stomach lurched as he looked at the situation he had caused. He slung his rifle over his back and followed Primeape and Zubat who followed their trainer. As he got closer he heard a sound that made his heart break. Small squeaks of pain emmitted from the Butterfree. Most were still alive and looking around frantically, squealing in fear as Tal passed them. Their charred bodies made a terrible smell... But the sheer number that had gotten caught in the trap was outrageous. Atleast 150 Butterfree laid on the ground, thrown away like waste.

"Here" Yoshia turned and tosshed Tal her knife before drawing another one. "Start cutting." she said with a smile. Tal looked down at the knife to see that his hands were trembling. He heard a loud squeal of pain as Yoshia hacked an entire wing off of a Butterfree. It's tiny legs wiggled sightly as tears formed in its eyes but was helpless as she turned it over onto its face and hacked its other wing off. It made a sound unlike Tal had ever heard a Butterfree make before.

Yoshia took the wings and carefully slid them into the bag. She left the wingless Butterfree, wasted, facedown on the ground left to endure it's own torment, knowing that all of its kin will follow the same fate.

Tal's partner turned to the next one and, once again, started maiming it. The squeals and squeaks of all the Butterfree intensified each time one of its kin screamed in pain.

Yoshia turned around and glared at him. "This is no time to second guess your morality, Tal. You're team Rocket, this is what we do." Her eyes wandered down to his feet. She pointed with her knife. "Get that one. The one with that thing around it's neck. C'mon, hurry, we musn't take more than an hour. We don't want the authorities to find us red handed." She went back to her current Butterfree.

Tal looked down at his feet to see a fairly old Butterfree lying there. But strangely, it had what looked like a yellow scarf wrapped around it's neck. It stared back up at Tal, with the knife in his hand, glinting in the newly risen sun. There was a sadness in its eyes. A sadness unlike any he'd ever seen in a pokemon ever before. It almost seemed...human. It uddered a small noise: _"freieieieie"_ A tear fell from Tal's face. This must have been some trainer's Pokemon at some point.

 _I can't do this._ Tal dropped the knife into the grass. It stuck straight up. Tal looked to his left. Atleast ten butterfrees had already been permanently mamed. They lied in the bloodied grass, dazed, some dead. Then his gaze fell upon Yoshia. Her beautiful form showed as she bent down to cut off another Butterfree wing. She had a charasmatic aura round her that seemed to put Tal in a soothing place. The carnage around him was so potent though. He could hardly think of her.

Then again...he's been going after her for three years. He couldn't just blow this opportunity to make her so happy. If he joined her in this terrible chirade, maybe he could get Yoshia to look at him as more than just a friend. He blinked as he looked back down at the knife stuck in the ground. The ungodly sounds of injured butterfree sounded behind him. Tal pursed his lips as he took a deep breath in.

He picked up the knife. He turned to a random Butterfree on the ground. It was trying to get away. It was shaking it's head relentlessly. _I must do this. For Yoshia._

He grabbed the Butterfree's wing and turned it onto it's face. It was already very injured. As Tal put his boot on it's back, it stopped struggling and just gave up. It knew it's fate.

 _Maybe this is why Team Rocket denounces the evil of love_. He thought before bringing his knife down upon the Butterfree.


	2. Chapter 1: Troubled Beginnings

Chapter 1

"Nidoran, use tackle!" The male Nidoran charged at it's opponent after getting up from a brutal hit. It jumped at the Oddish but not before it's trainer yelled at it to dodge. The Nidoran skidded to a halt but stumbled as it hind left leg faltered. It was struggling to stay on it's feet.

The trainer of the Oddish stood, smug faced and arms crossed as the Nidoran struggled. Her Oddish did the same minus the crossed arms. "Give up yet?" She mocked the other trainer.

The other trainer, a younger boy, maybe around fourteen years old clentched his fists as the mosh pit around the battle grew larger. More people to get humiliated by he thought. This was the last Pokemon he had left. Earlier, the woman trainer's Geodude had made easy work of his Squirtle. He couldn't lose this battle without atleast knocking out one of her Pokemon.

"Never." He slurred through gritted teeth. "Nidoran-" the other trainer's yell cut him off. "Oddish, use sleep powder!" The Oddish reared back before blowing a cloud of wight dust out of it's leaves, towards the Nidoran. "Nidoran! Dodge left!" The Pokemon dodged, kicking off with it's right legs and missing most of the dust.

"Alright, now use horn drill!" "Oddish, use razor leaf then dodge." The two Pokemon used their attacks in unison. The Oddish unleashed it's razor leafs onto the Nidoran barreling toward it. Even if the Nidoran was getting hurt, it's momentum carried itself through the attacks.

But Odddish couldn't move out of the way quick enough before getting impaled by the Nidoran's deadly horn. It flew back and landed on the ground with a thump. It groaned softly. "Oood, oood." Gasps of astonishment swept through the crowd of now fifty people, mostly other kids.

The woman's suprised look on her face quickly turned to anger. "Oddish! Get up! Why didn't you dodge like I told you to!?"

Hope sparked in the boy's chest. "Alright Nido, finish it." The pink Pokemon reared up for a charge but its injured hind leg slipped out from underneath it. "No!"

Seeing the opportunity, the female trainer called back her Oddish then took out another Pokeball "Geodude. Go!" In a burst of light, the floating ball of rock with arms and a face appeared. "Geodude, smash it into the ground" With lightening speed, the Geodude launched itself into the air before rocketing down towards the Nidoran.

The boy trainer reeled "I forefit!" But it was too late. The Geodude smashed it's fists into the Nidoran, smooshing him into the ground, making dust fly from the dirt ground. "Nidoran!" the boy yelled before running up to his Pokemon and picking it up in his arms.

All the meanwhile, the crowd watched on, cheering and jeering, and exchanging bet money. A boy watched from the crowd. A young man, really. He had been watching the match and shaking his head the entire time. Even through their typing, that boy's Squirtle could have esaily beaten the woman's Geodude. And the battle between Oddish and Nidoran made him cringe. He watched on in dismay as the Oddish dealt a terribly accurate tackle to the Nidoran's hind, left leg. The Nidoran was faster than the Oddish. That boy trainer should have known that. Instead of ordering a counter-attack after the tackle that hurt it's leg, he should have had the Nidoran do a small dodge, then do a horn attack on the slower Pokemon, rendering it close to unconcious.

Some one elbowed his right side. "What a fight! Am I right?" A man asked him. "Oh-uh, yeah a great battle." The young man turned to leave, he didn't feel like talking. "What did you think of that cheeky withdrawl of that Squirtle?" the older man asked. "That smaller kid's a wimp." "I-don't know much about Pokemon." the young man said over his shoulder as he walked away, ignoring the guy's calls. _I can't afford them either._

When he was younger, he applied to get a starter Pokemon, eight times, until he turned eighteen, the upper age limit, but was denied eight times. The young man named Grant kicked a can in frustration. He envied kids like those he had seen battle today. Every year, only a limited amount of starter Pokemon are up for the taking. The organization that choses who gets a starter is biased towards the richer kids. The ones who will buy MORE Pokeballs in the future and MORE potions. Grant believed that the people who owned the Pokemon stores, who gave out starters, who ran the Pokemon centers, were all linked. One big seceret monopoly who's only goal is to rake in money. It was a biased, rigged system. That's why Pokemon centers are free. So that trainers can do more battling, catch more Pokemon, which require more Pokeballs to be bought and more potions and revives to heal their Pokemon on the go.

Long story short, Grant had never been able to afford a Pokemon despite his dream to become a Pokemon master. Any Pokemon that was worth half it's weight in pocket lint, cost far more than Grant could ever spend at one time

 _Pokemon master._ He thought to himself as a joke. Everyone and their mothers want to one day become Pokemon masters. _So cliche._

A breeze ruffled his hair as he walked down the city street. He pulled his black hood up over his head and weaved through the crowd to turn into an allyway. Grant made a right, then a left, weaving through building alleyways and dumpsters. The occasional dirty Rattata scuddled by.

Grant coundn't afford the basic everyday necesities that most could, so he had to obtain his food and other items by...other means.

After making another left, he came upon an old, rusty metal door. He knocked four times. A light rain had just started to fall, making his knuckles wet when he had knocked. A slat in the door opened. A pair of eyes looked through from the other side. "Is this the Krusty Krab?" the eyes asked. "No. This is Patrick." Grant responded. The slat closed and a moment later, the old door opened. A muscled man dressed in black stood there, holding the door and Grant stepped past him warily, careful not to anger him. He just seemed like the kind of guy who would snap at you even if you just glanced at him.

Beyond the door, a dreary staircase led down into the basement; the ceiling, walls, and steps, all cement. The corridor was cracked and worn from erotion and years of use. Rust stains ran down the walls from water leaking through the cracks.

The door shut behind him with a heavy slam, drowning Grant in near complete darkness. After taking a breath of the cool, musty air, he made his way down the steps and down a hallway, Before long, voices started to be heard. Lot's of them.

The hallway eventually opened up into a large, dimly lit room that used to be a parking garage. The ceiling was about fifteen feet tall and the room was over 100 yards long. Hundreds of people milled about, most of them dressed in rags and dirty garments. But what they were all looking was the real attraction. The black market of Cleadon city. Many vendors had set up camp down here.

The scents and sights brought many memories back to him of all the time he'd spent in this place. Grant had spent many hours down in the old parking garage; trading, buying, and selling illegal items. He had once earned fifty dollars from selling a dead Raticate. Grant chuckled to himself. The woman he had sold it to thought it was just sleeping. _Idiot_.

But today, he didn't have fifty dollars. All he had was a measly eighteen dollars and fifteen cents. It wasn't mutch but it was enough to buy him some food for the next few days.

A man walked past Grant and shoved past him, slamming his shoulder against him along the way. Grant turned and stared at the walking away man with hate in his eyes, but he calmed himself. _Not worth it._ Grant turned back to the vendors and sales people who were showing off all of their illegal wares.

The aisles were bustling with all kinds of people; most of them ragged though, searching for their next meal or for a Pokemon.

Grant chose one of the aisles to go down and started down it. The first few vendors he saw were selling various vehicle parts for what looked like cars and electric scooters. The next few were selling lousy Pokemon such as Rattatas, Pidgies, and Caterpies. Nothing interesting. A group of people were starting to congregate around another vendors pit. They were all yelling and holding up money, trying to buy whatever was being sold before anyone else did. Grant didn't even try to take a look at what it was. Others sold Pokeballs and potions.

He scanned the vendors for one that sold bread. Then he'd look for one with water bottles after he had succeded in his first task.

The crowds started thinning out as he walked further back into the parking garage. He kept scanning the vendors for one that sold food. He couldn't find any. Annoyance started to grab hold of him.

 _Don't these people ever eat?_ He thought. Grant looked over at the vendor to the right of him. An old hag of a woman sat behind the counter just staring into space. But what he saw on the shelves behind her made him stop in his tracks. It wasn't anything extrodinary or exciting, but for some reason it gripped him. Various small cages lined the shelves and floor, but one in particular got his attention. A very small, scrawny, Ekans stared straight at him through the thin metal bars. It held Grant's gaze, not wavering.

Grant took a step toward the vendor to take a better look. As he got closer, he could see how weak it really was. It was the smalllest Ekans he had ever seen. The cage it was in, was probably only two cubic feet and the snake pokemon fit comfortably within its recesses. It's toung flicked, tasting the air for Grant's scent. Something about it's stare captivated him, made him feel something...different.

"W-why aren't these Pokemon in Pokeballs?" he asked the old woman, nodding towards the various Pokemon on the shelves. "Does it look like I can afford Pokeballs, you scab? Either you buy one or get out of the way of paying customers." There were no other customers.

He hadn't taken his eyes off the Ekans. "How much is the - um, snake one?" The woman turned around to look at the pathetic pokemon. "What, that sad sack? I'll charge seventeen dollars; eighteen with the cage."

 _That's how much I have!_ "I'll take it!" Grant blurted out before he could give it a second thought. The old, warty woman shook her head. "Not _my_ loss. Money first!" Grant shoveled the money out of his pocket and threw the wrinkled bills and loose change onto the counter.

With a discusted look, the woman grabbed the money and threw it into her pocket. Grant grabbed the rest back.

She went to the shelf and grabbed the Ekans cage off of it. She walked back and shoved it into Grant's arms. The Ekans hissed and he quickly held the cage away form his chest, not wanting the snake to bite him through the bars.

"Now go away." the woman's raspy voice barked. "Thanks." he said before walking away from the counter. As he meandered to the back of the room, he held the cage up to eye level to get a good look at his Pokemon. It's purple and yellow scales were dull and it rested it's head on ins coils. "You must be a newborn." he spoke to it. It was small indeed. It was only a couple feet long and suprisingly light for it's length. _It must be starving._ He thought with pity.

"You spent our food money on a baby Pokemon?" Grant's best friend's voice sounded next to him. A dark skinned boy about his age stepped out of the shadow of a cement pillar. "If you saw the way it looked at me, you'd have understood why I did, Francis." "It just want's to eat you, Grant. It's as scrawny as you." He said as he walked closer, gesturing to it. "It's starving." "Okay, okay, I'll get it some food." "Where are you going to find that? Haha!" Francis laughed. "Now thanks to you, we don't even have enough for ourselves."

Grant looked around desperately for something to feed the Ekans who was lying lamely in it's cage. Francis sighed. "I saw a dead, dirty, half eaten Rattata in the corner back there." he gestured over his shoulder with his thumb. "That'll have to do."

Francis followed him as he made his way over to the dead Pokemon. It was lying with it's belly eaten out already, in the corner of the old parking garage. Piles of gung form decades of sweeping the floor to the edges, piled around the Rattata. It's purple fur was brown from the dirt. Flies surrounded it, landing occationally only to fly back off again.

"Let it out." Francis said, holding his hand over his nose. "No! I can't do that; I'd escape." "Well how are you going to get the Ekans to eat it?" Grant looked into the cage that he had set on the ground. For once, the Pokemon had perked up and had it's face up against the edge of the cage, staring down the Rattata.

Grant turned towards Francis. "You pick it up, I'll open the cage, and you throw it in. I'll close the cage once it's in there. "Hell no!" Francis objeted. "I'm not toughing that thing. It's got maggots." Grant stared at his friendd. "I'll give you the remaining fifteen cents I have." he tempted. "Yeah right. Look dude, you bought that thing, you're going to do the dirty work." Grant sighed and debated the situation for a moment. "Fine. Here, take the cage." They switched spots. Grant grabbed a piece of old paper off the floor and used it as a mitt. He grabbed the Rattata by the tail and tried with all his will power to fight off the wave of nausia he was feeling. He dangled it in front of the cage, the Ekans head following the swinging rodent.

"On three." Francis nodded in agreement. He took hold of the cage's flimsy locking mechanism. "One." "Two" The Ekans tensed up as if it knew what was going to happen. "Three!" Francis flung the cage door open and before Grant could throw the Ratatta, the Ekans lunged out, and bid down on the dead Pokemon and his hand.

"Aaaaah!" Grant yelled as the Ekans fangs tore through his skin. He waved his hand around as the pain seared up his wrist. A second later, the snake, being so weak, lost grip of his hand and, with the Rattata, flew through the air and hit the wall. It fell to the ground where it proceeded to eat the dead Pokemon whole.

Francis stared, shocked at the quick turn of events. Grant hunkered over, holding his hand as blood flowed from it. He swore harshly as he looked over the snake. Anger and fear flashed in his mind. Grant rose his shoe up to smash the Ekans into the cement before Francis lunged foreward and held him back. "It didn't mean it Grant!" The two stood there as Grant lowered his foot slowly. "It was jusst hungry." Francis had a strange, protective tone to his voice. "You can't blame it for that, can you?"

Breathing heavily, Grant looked down at the Ekans. It was struggling to get the Ratatta down its throat. He sighed as he looked away. "Just get it back in it's freaking cage." He was still holding his hand. Blood was starting to drip onto the floor.

Francis had taken the cage and, with the enterance downward, lowered it quickly down onto the Ekans which was curled around the Ratatta as it tried to swallow it.

Grant watched as his friend struggled to turn the cage over and keep the Ekans inside at the same time. _What have I gotten myself into?_

Francis finally got the Ekans in the cage and sat it upright. "We need to get it to a Pokemon center. It's weak. They could heal its scratches and cage scars that're on it's bellies." "Yeah" "But we need to get you to a hospital, Grant." Grant shook his head. "We can't afford that. I'll just wrap it myself like I did when that Growlithe bit me." Francis looked sternly into Grant's eyes. "This is a _poison_ type Pokemon, may I remind you. You're lucky this one's young and weak, but there is probably poison flowing through your veins."

Now that he had mentioned it, his arm was starting to throb with pain. He was poisoned.

"Alright." Grant sighed. "Let's go."


	3. Chapter 2: The Struggle is Real

Chapter 2

Grant watched as the nurse cleaned out his ekans bite wound as a doctor injected the anti-venom needed to counter the poison. It stung as it was administered to his right arm but almost immediately, the underlying pain started to cease.

"That feel better?" the doctor asked him. "Yeah. It's starting to." Grant replied through gritted teeth. He winced once more as the nurse dug deep into his ripped skin with a small, wetted disinfectant wipe. She then sprayed something on it and wrapping it in a bandage.

Her eyes looked up Grant. "You better be more careful with that ekans, kid." Grant, annoyed at being told the obvious just grunted. She finished and went over to the doctor who was fumbling with his clipboard.

"What's this goanna cost me?" Grant asked bluntly, scared to hear the answer.

The doctor, older in age, looked up from his glasses. "Well since you failed to provide us with any insurance information you will have to pay the full amount out of pocket." Although Grant already knew this, his stomach dropped. The doctor continued after taking a deep breath. "You'll get the bill sent to your mailing address in about a week but for the anti-venom vial, service, transportation costs, etcetera, your bill will amount to about eleven thousand five hundred dollars."

Grant gagged and nearly fell off the table. The nurse rushed over to catch him if he fell off. She helped him sit upright as he recovered from a coughing fit. When he gagged he swallowed saliva down the wrong tube. He didn't know what to think. _Why does it cost so much?_

The doctor stood there with his mouth open as if he was about so say something. Grant finished coughing and looked up at him. "I can't afford that. I can hardly pay for myself to eat!"

The doctor held his hand up. "You aren't required to pay it off all at once. You can pay in increments. You can choose a weekly plan, monthly plan or a bi-monthly plan. Plus, you have the entire week before the bill gets delivered to you." He gave Grant a look as if that what he had said made everything better, his trimmed, white moustache curled up with his smile.

Grant just stared back at him. The doctor stared back for a second before taking another look at his clipboard. "I have a 2:30 appointment I must get to. Good day." He then turned, opened the door to the room and walked out, leaving Grant with the nurse.

"I hope you feel better. You can leave whenever you like." the nurse said as she collected the supplies she had brought in, and exited the room. Grant was left, wishing he had just taken his chances with the poison.

 _Poison_ , he thought. Francis had taken the ekans to the pokémon center to get looked at and get a proper meal of pokémon food. Hopefully it beefs up a bit. If Grant planned to train it, it had to get some fat on its skinny-or scaly- frame.

Grant shook his head and slid himself off of the table and made his way out of the room and down the hallway towards the exit of the office.

His mind wandered back to the ekans. It had seemed very frail and desperate for that ratatta. _It better not die on me._ Grant willed. He had spent eighteen dollars on it. But that was nothing compared to the giant bill that was going to be awaiting him when he got back to his apartment, which he shared with Francis and another guy, Yosi.

 _I better go and see how Francis is fairing._ Grant pushed open the doors to the hospital to feel a strong cold wind hit him in the face. He hiked his hood up, drew the strings, and made his way down the street toward the pokémon center.

"He's going to be fine." The pokémon nurse said to Francis as she wheeled the ekans out on a padded cart. It was sleeping.

Francis shook his head. "Oh no, I'm not the owner, Grant is." He jabbed his thumb towards Grant who was looking down at his pokémon.

"It's a he?" he asked.

"Yes." The nurse nodded. "You don't know that?"

"Well I just bought it today." Grant said, taken back. But honestly, he didn't care about the nurse. He just wanted to hear about how his ekans was doing.

The nurse dressed in pink and white looked down at the ekans. "Oh, well we gave him a hydration shot to get his immune system running again then gave him a bowl of water which he drank entirely. We then treated some of his scrapes and sores before feeding him three entire cans of ekans food. He zonked out right after that." She glanced down at the ekans. "I think he's just glad he can take a proper nap." She looked back up at Grant. "I've seen healthy ekans on the verge of evolving, four times this guys' size, eat two cans of food and that's shocking." She tilted her head and squinted at Grant. "Wherever you rescued this guy from, was a terrible place. Good on you for doing the right thing."

Grant nodded, feeling his morale boost. He still noticed the deep placed marks on the ekans' belly. "What about those cage marks on his belly?" he pointed towards the visible ones that they could see on the pokémon.

A saddened look formed on the nurse's face. "Most likely, they're permanent. This guy is probably only a couple months old and, based off of those marks, it seems as if he has been in captivity his entire life. So he's grown around the cage that he lived in."

Grant nodded and looked over at Francis. "Where's the cage?"

"They took it back with them." He said as he pointed to the nurse.

"We can give it back to you if you'd like but I would strongly advise against putting this ekans in it ever again. I wouldn't even let him see it ever again if possible. He could continue to spur foul behavior if he continues to be exposed to his old environment. Like that." She pointed to Grant's bandaged hand.

He felt the need to defend his pokémon. "In all honestly, he didn't attack me, I was holding food in my hand and he lunged for it."

"Regardless, I advise getting a pokéball for this bugger."

"We can't afford that." Grant just remembered the 11,000 dollars he just got charged. He winced. Francis didn't know about that yet.

"Well if we don't have a cage, or a pokéball, how are we going to get this guy out of here?" Francis asked.

"We sell pokéballs here at the center." She said. "Only forty-five dollars."

"Pffft. Forty-five." Francis laughed. Grant just stared down at the ground, clueless about what to do.

The nurse must have sensed their dilemma. She looked around quickly. "Follow me." She walked away and turned a corner down a hallway. Francis and Grant looked at each other before following the nurse.

When they rounded the corner the nurse shoved a fifty-dollar bill into Grant's hands. "W-what?"

She spoke quickly in a hushed voice, inches from Grant's face. "I really admire what you're doing for this pokémon. I just want to help you along." Grant looked down at the fifty dollars in his hand, not knowing what to say. He could count the amount of times he had held this much money at once, on one hand. Francis was gaping also.

"Don't mention it." She said without waiting for a reply. "I just expect you to pay it back to me once you two get on your feet."

"Thank you!" Grant nearly yelled. She took a step back.

"Shh!" she hushed him. "I'm technically not allowed to do this so just keep this between us." Grant nodded. "Now go. Your ekans needs you."

The ekans went right into the pokéball without a hitch. It was asleep and content so it was an easy 'capture'.

After thanking nurse Tina once more, the two friends walked out the front doors, pokéball in hand.

"Well, what now?" Grant asked.

"Well nurse Tina said that ekans only need to eat once every three days; two if it's doing a lot of physical activity."

"Like that's going to help us much financially." Grant said sarcastically.

"Point is; you could have chosen a worse pokémon."

Grant took a deep breath as he was about to lay the bomb down upon Francis. "Sooooo the medical bill for the anti-venom is…catastrophic to say the least."

Francis's head shot towards Grant. "What…?"

Grant raised his eyebrows as he looked down and spoke quickly. "Eleven-thousand dollars."

"What! Eleven-hundred!?" Francis mustn't have heard him correctly. "How in the w- what the… no, no, how in hell are we going to- "

"No Francis." Grant interrupted his friend. "Eleven-thousand."

Francis stopped where he was and just stared at Grant. After a long moment he held his pointer finger up. "I am not paying any of that." He ended with an expressionless laugh. "

"You're the one who wanted me to go to the hospital, remember." Grant was too tired and mentally drained to argue or converse anymore so he just continued on down the street. Francis followed a second later.

Francis fumbled with the keys to the apartment as Grant watched on. Eventually he found the right key and after a half minute of trying to unlock the old door, he got it open.

The apartment complex they lived in was one of the dirtiest and cheapest in the city. Only one-hundred-ten dollars a month which he split with Francis and Yosi who was sleeping on the couch. He was dead to the world.

Francis picked up a crushed soda can and threw it at the blonde boy. He woke up right away. "That's for not opening the door for us." Francis said as he went into the kitchen.

Yosi rubbed his eyes. "You know how deep I sleep." He paused when he didn't see any food. "Where's the food? I'm starving."

Grant held up the pokéball in mid-air. Yosi looked at it for a second, puzzled. "You stole it?"

"No!" Grant scolded. "I bought it. It's an ekans."

Yosi sneezed. After he recovered he asked "How far did that put us back? I can't imagine an ekans with a pokéball is very cheap."

"Seventy-eight dollars." Grant said. Yosi put his head in his hands as he sat on the couch.

"But that's not even the bad part." Francis yelled from the kitchen. Grant couldn't even imagine what he was doing in there. They had no food.

"What?" Yosi asked.

Grant held up his hurt hand. After explaining to Yosi everything, the black market vendor, the ekans bite, hospital bill, the pokémon center, and nurse Tina and how she lent them fifty dollars, Yosi curled up in a ball on the couch and pulled the blanket over him, not saying a word.

"I don't blame him." Francis said.

Grant sighed "I don't either."

Tal looked over at Yosha who was sitting in the passenger seat of the van who just got off the phone with their contact in Cleadon city. "Alright Tal, now drive to the eastern entrance of Cleadon. We can drop off the wings there. Henry said he'd take care of them from there and give us our cut of the money right on the spot!"

Tal sighed as he drove through the night. The only thing being illuminated in the headlights was the beaten down road that may as well just be made of gravel. "But I've been driving for the past twelve hours. You should take a shift driving."

Yosha just laughed, she seemed almost slap happy. "If our pay comes to an odd amount, I'll let you take the extra dollar." She laughed again as if that made everything okay.

' _Whatever you say'_ he thought. His mind wandered to the one hundred-seventeen pairs of butterfree wings in bags in the back of the van. Their screams were still etched in his mind like a horror movie playing over and over again. What he had seen the night before really jarred him, made him feel uneasy.

' _I just need to get through this'_ He thought. _'Then maybe I can take a break from illegal and cruel activities for a while._ '

Yosha interrupted his thoughts. "So Henry told me something else very interesting."

"What?"

"He said that boss gave him another job to assign to some grunts."

 _'Great'_

"There is a pokémon show in Cleadon in three days. He said that there is a time where all of the trainers leave their pokémon to mingle in a giant room then they go eat dinner. There are supposed to be some valuable pokémon there. He said that some people are needed to steal them."

Tal sighed inwardly as he changed mindsets. "Is there security?"

"Lots." She replied as she put her feet up on her seat. "Armed guards, security cameras, locked doors, tripwires, the whole shebang." She looked at Tal, waiting to see his reaction. He wasn't sure what to say.

"It seems dangerous." He ventured.

"Of course it is!" She said as she punched him in the arm. It kind of hurt. "That's what makes it fun! C'mon what do you say. Others will help us too. Plus, the whole job will only take about four hours. Henry will take care of the pokémon from there once we get them out. After, we can invite all the other grunts to a hotel room and celebrate." She paused and looked at Tal with a slight smirk and an eyebrow raised. "Unless you don't want to invite the others."

Tal slammed on the brakes as his gut twisted into knots and as his face flushed. The van came to a sudden stop.

"What do you say?" Yosha asked with a quiet, enchanting voice.

As if he had never spoken before, Tal looked at Yosha and after a moment said "I'm in."

 **Thanks for reading my Pokémon fanfic this far! The amount of visitors and views for this story, for only being two chapters in, are stunning. Never have I seen a story of mine take off so quickly so for that, I thank you all tremendously! I have no plans of stopping and I hope you guys continue to support me and this story.**

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	4. Chapter 3: Outlaws

Grant sat on his bed in the dark, staring at the ekans that sat at the foot. The two just stared at each other in silence, save the radio murmuring quietly on the side of the room.

"I should probably name you. Something threatening and scary." The ekans just hissed back at him. "Ekaaaaaans" before flicking the end of his tail, making a raddling noise with it.

Sadly, Grant acknowledged the truth: the snake was anything but threatening. It was a runt. Grant stared in pity as his skinny frame clung to his bones. But Grant had been feeding him well the past few days and he seemed to finally be getting some energy. The ekans liked to stay out of the pokéball and just do laps around his room, going under the bed just to emerge from the other side. Grant thought it was pretty funny. He had also been trying to start to train the ekans. From what Grant had observed from other trainers, training didn't seem hard it just seemed – like hard work. But this was proving to be false. There was no book on how to properly bond with your pokémon. Well, maybe there is but regardless, Grant was struggling getting anything out of his ekans.

"Do you know any moves?" Grant asked. The ekans just stared back. "Tail whip?" Nothing happened. Grant drug his hand down his face and shook his head.

"Ekaaaanssss." The ekans hissed once more, looking away from Grant and towards the blinded windows. "Just do something, dude." The ekans didn't move.

Grant thought for a moment. "Do you want a name? Is that why you're not obeying me? Do you need something to recognize with?" The ekans head whipped towards Grant, flicking his toung.

Grant raised an eyebrow and smirked "Aaah, so that's it, huh?" Grant stroked his chin as if to show the ekans that he was thinking hard. "How about… Ekans?" The ekans just hissed. Grant slumped.

"Well then-" Grant got interrupted by a constant, deep, thumping noise emanating from Francis's room. "Francis!" Grant yelled "Turn the damn music down!" After a few moments of waiting nothing happened. The music continued. Grant looked down at the ekans. "Why does he continue to do this? He knows we're going to get reported again."

"Ekanssss." Was his response.

If they got kicked out, Yosi would have a fit once he got back from work.

Suddenly car doors were heard shutting outside his window. The ekans turned his head towards the sounds. Four doors in all, nearly all at the same time. They were all decently soft too. Grant didn't think much of it. No voices were heard outside.

But something on the radio drew his attention from outside. He leaned over and turned up the dial.

" _-the man who discovered the terrible scene was park ranger, Alfred Granger. Alfred, can you please retell your account of-of what you witnessed." "Thanks, Dave. Well I was doing my normal patrol of the northern part of the Cleadon forest like I do every Tuesday and I heard this-this noise of distress that I immediately identified as a butterfree. So driving slowly, trying to find it's source, I eventually saw an injured butterfree on the side of the road. I pulled over and knelt down to it. As I got closer, I halted and looked down in shock. This butterfree had its wings completely ripped off. It looked as if maybe a rival beedrill had maimed it in a territory dispute or something. I then heard more-uh-more of those terrible noises of distress. My heart instantly sunk. I walked through some brush and came upon a large clearing with a giant tree in the middle."_

The ranger started to choke up at this moment. What did he see?

He continued. " _I look down. I don't believe what I'm seein'. There are dozens and dozens of deceased butterfree on the ground. Every single one of them had their wings ripped or cut off. This was an organized poaching strike against the main swarm of butterfree that migrates through the park every year. Whoever is responsible for this atrocity deserves to be locked up for the rest of their life!"_

'Whyhadn't I heard about this?' Grant thought.

Suddenly, Francis burst into his room, slamming the door against the wall, a frantic look on his face. "The cops are here; we need to go!"

Goosebumps covered Grant's body before he started fumbling for the pokéball and zapping the ekans back into it. Francis bolted out of the room. Grant stole a quick look through the blinds. Four fully geared cops were making their way up the stairs that lead to the second level of the apartment complex; the one they lived on. They all had their hands on their guns. A fifth cop was making his way around the back of the building as if to stop them if they tried running away around the back.

Grant stepped away from the blinds and ran into the living room. "Get rid of the evidence!" he yelled to Francis.

"Paper doesn't go down the toilet very well!" He replied.

"Sure it does!"

"Not this kind!"

Grant cursed as he ran into the kitchen and grabbed a broom. He frantically made his way in to the bathroom where Francis has his arm halfway down the toilet completely over flowing with paper. A half full bin of paper sat next to him.

"Move!" Grant yelled. Francis moved out of the way to avoid the end of the handle of the broom which Grant shot into the toiled. He violently tried to shove the clogged paper down but there was so much, it would hardly budge.

A moment later a dreaded sound was heard on the front door. Three knocks. Grant and Francis froze in place, water all over themselves and the floor. Paper scraps were everywhere also. After another moment, three more knocks and a voice "Cleadon city police. Open the door now. We know you're in there. If you don't come to the door, we'll come in ourselves and make ourselves at home."

Francis looked up at Grant "Bluff?" he asked quietly. Grant tilted his head as if to say 'Not sure'.

Not another second passed before the sound of the door being destroyed sounded. Splintered wood sounded along with a "monleee".

"Shit, go, go, go, go!" Francis said as he and Grant fled out of the bathroom. As they rounded the turn into the small hallway, away from the living room and the door, Grant looked back to see cops surging into their abode, guns drawn.

One of them yelled "Stop!" but the two friends made their way quickly into the back hallway and started to open the door. Francis fumbled with the handle as footsteps were thundering down the hallway. Grant was sure they were caught. In less than a second, the coops would have their hands on him. Grant knew he was done for. He leaned against the wall, holding his hands out, palms out. He closed his eyes, resting his head on the wall.

Hands gripped his shirt throwing him forward. "Go!" Grant heard Francis's voice as he threw him out the back door. Francis slammed the door shut as Grant stumbled down the wooden stairs leading down to the pavement. The first thing he thought of was the cop that had circled around the back but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Grant, come on!" Francis yelled over his shoulder as he sprinted away from him. Grant followed suit but not before hearing a strange noise. It sounded like a bunch of boomerangs that were being spun very fast all at the same time. Grant looked back before they rounded a dumpster. What he saw confused him. Vines and plant matter were strung over the closed door that they had just emerged from. It seemed to be preventing it from opening. The door kept trying to be opened and the vines only gave it a bout a centimeter of give. _Who did that?_

Grant shook his head. No time to worry about that. Grant grabbed Francis's arm. "We can't keep going this way. They'll be coming around the front. Hop the fence!" The two turned, nearly slipping and made their way to a tall, weathered, wooden fence that separated the back drive of the apartment complex from a neighborhood.

Francis scrambled his way up the fence, nearly breaking it. Grant followed him over.

 _We can't get caught!_ Grant thought as he started to sweat.

They landed in a backyard, mostly devoid of grass. An old gnarled oak provided shade to most of the yard and an old rope swing hung from one of the branches.

"Run into the house!" Francis started running towards the back door.

"It's locked." Grant stared in dismay as the door seemed shut tight. It had a giant padlock on it and the window was covered in metal bars.

"I just need to-" Francis was interrupted by the voices of cops on the other side of the fence.

"Go on Growlithe. Find those law breakers."

Grant and Francis plastered themselves up against the tree. Grant could hear the fire type pokémon sniffing around. It's paw steps were within hearing range.

Francis who had been relatively calm the whole time, started to shake. "We can't just stay here. We're going to be found." Grant turned his head so that his ear was aimed more towards the fence. Small huffs and puffs from the growlithe were now audible. A flash of fear struck grant as he remembered the last time a police growlithe bit his arm. He rubbed his forearm unconsciously.

Francis started to shake his head. "We need to do something or get out of here."

Grant didn't wait a moment longer. He held his Pokéball up and whispered to it. "ekans, I need your help." Light blasted out of the front of the Pokéball. His small ekans materialized on the ground and looked up at him, flicking his tongue once again. Their eyes locked and Grant saw something in his eyes. The ekans knew something was wrong. He was listening.

Grant knelt down, keeping his voice low, he spoke quickly. "Okay ekans, I need you to do something for me, okay?" The purple snake nodded. He actually nodded! Joy spread over Grant. "Alright, I need you to cover us in throw-up."

"What!" Francis blurted, almost too loud.

Grant turned towards Francis, frustrated. "Do you want to have to take a shower, or spend the next fifteen years of your life in a prison cell?" That shut him up.

"Ekaaansss." Next thing Grant knew, throw-up was covering his face. He resisted a gag. But it wasn't much throw-up. He wasn't sure if it would cover their scent. The ekans tried throwing up on Francis's arms, but he had none left to spare.

"It'll have to do." Grant said as he sat still. The ekans had curled up in between Grant and Francis. They listened as the growlithe sniffed right outside the fence where they were. From what Grant could tell, it sounded like a young one. It then made a sound as if it was taken back by something. But it kept sniffing. Grant could tell that there was a cop right there with it. Then Francis's belly rumbled with hunger. The two shot their eyes wide open in fear. They just stared at each other.

Grant hoped the growlithe hadn't heard that.

Seconds seemed like hours. The suspension nearly made Grant throw up; along with the ekans puke on him. After a few more seconds, the growlithe squealed with excitement before its paw steps were heard running in the opposite direction. Heavy human footsteps followed. The cop spoke into his radio as he ran away "We've got something."

Grant zapped the ekans back into his pokéball. After that they got up and ran. They hopped more fences and just kept running and running, never looking back.

Once they got about ten blocks away they slowed down and caught their breaths, Grant called Yosi on the flip phone that the two shared. He had told him to stay away from the apartment and to sleep in his car somewhere far away for the night.

Grant closed the phone then shoved it into his pocket, ending with a big breath.

"I guess we're homeless. Not to mention the police now have all of our records." He said with a sinking feeling. No, he thought. He wasn't sinking, he was already at the bottom.

"Not all of the records." Francis said with his head down.

"What do you mean?"

"I made sure to get rid of the Team Rocket ones first. I flushed Aku's file first." He said timidly as if he was afraid to speak. He was scared.

Grant looked back ahead. That didn't help much but at least their ties to Aku were severed; at least the ones that were on paper. He was the worst criminal they had records of. Grant, Francis, and Yosi hadn't worked with him personally but with people who worked for him.

Francis looked down at the eroding, cracked sidewalk as they continued on. He looked lost. Not knowing what to say, Grant put his own head down and joined his friend in his desolation.

Francis said one last thing. "At least you won't get the anti-venom bill."

A graying man sat in a very well furnished room. He was cloaked mostly in darkness and his suit was black with thin red stripes running vertically. The desk he was behind was made from pure mahogany and was neatly organized. Only a single paper, lamp, pen, and picture frame sat upon it. His posture showed his importance along with the persian that sat next to his seat as he stroked it slowly.

"Please tell me, Ariana…" he started; his voice was powerful but not loud. "have you found the proper members for this heist? I asked you for the best of the best on this one."

The red-headed woman who sat in the chair across the desk from the powerful figure smirked sternly back. "Indeed I have. I assigned Henry to put the best in Cleadon City onto the job-"

"No! The boss cut her off. "I said the best of the best. Not the best in Cleadon"

"I allow you to rest assured. The ones chosen are the correct ones for the job."

"Who?"

"First and foremost, Aku will be leading the charge." The persian purred at the sound of that name. "His crew is tagging along of course. Then along with Henry, Grav has been assigned to manage the transportation of the pokémon out of the convention. Henry has also assigned some grunts who are in the area to tag along and help."

"Who?"

"Yosha and Tal, sir. The ones who did the butterfree raid."

"Anyone else?"

"Well some of our informants in Cleadon City have brought to my attention three young men who are well acquainted with most of the illegal operations in the town. We think it would be a good idea for them to tag along so maybe we could use what they know."

The boss looked unconvinced. "Can we trust them? Why would they work for us?"

"We can indeed trust them. Especially if we give them something they want. A place to go, a place to live. Police just raided their apartment earlier today so if we offer them a refuge, they'll do anything we say."

The boss sighed. "You're hiring chumps who have the cops on their tail?"

"They could be useful and you know that." Ariana finished.

The boss stared down at the piece of paper I front of him. After a few moments of consideration, he looked back up.

"Very well. Send them the job description".

 **I'd like to give a pecial thanks to user** **Talons of Ice** **for proof reading over this chapter. Also for helping me brain storm ideas for this chapter and many more to come.**

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